No More Learning

O. O ! that is for bufiness too ; it is against the pa-
But the joth of January is kept with us like the second commandment with them, as much out of sight as
we can. It brings our fins (we daily practice ) to remem brance, which must be ungrateful, while we resolve not to amend, I'd rather junket with you at Christmas, than
fast with you on the 30th of January.
C. If you come to me at Christmas, I'll make you fast
out ofspite.
O. No, I'll eat out ot spite, and fast too, that eat
fishes.
sast, and drink fast, to destroy your mined pyes, and) plumb-porrage, and guzzle your o/a' a/? , that these super stitious things may be dispatch'd quickly out of the way
and then I'll entertain you with a. yule sermon. with, C. Thou shalt break thy neck as soon as thy fast
me, at that rate. We ought not to receive such into our houses, nor to bid them God speed, lest we be partakers of their evil deeds. Thou did'st not sall last 30th of Janu ary, I'll warrant thee. Wast thou at church that day
O. As told thee, happen'd this year upon Tues day, which leEiure-day wkh us at Salters-Hall.
C. How did you perform there Did you take any no tice of the day?
O. Yes, we did, and fung the 23d and 24th •verses of
the
psalm, which are these
This was the mighty work God> This was the Lord' own fact
And it wondrous to behold With eyes that noh'e act.
This thejoyful day inked,
Which God himself has wrought Let us be glad andjoy therein,
In heart, in mind, and thought.
C O devils devils incarnate
O. What! for repeating the words of holy scripture? '
16 C The
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C. The devil, whose children ye are, tempted oui blcsscd Lord, what a text ofscripture every time.
The applying of holy scripture to evil purposes, aggra vates the wickedness even to blasphemy ! for which reason this your rejoicing at Salters-Hall, in what you call di vine service, exceeds, by far, the openly prophane and rebellious songs of your calves-he ad-feasts, which yon
call anthems, in ridicule of all things sacred.
And as if calves-head and Salters-Hall were not suffi cient indications of your godly intentions, we have an other instance of a dissenter, living not far from Bartho
who on the 30th of January last 1704, did crect a calf's-head upon a publick place over his shop er HOUSE, to the view of a promiscuous crowd of neighbour! who are ready to make oath of the fame.
O. This you have in one of our precious papers, call'd truth and honesty, printed on the back of the London Poft, N. 10*2. (seehow long we have reign d! ) But there are several excuses set down there on behalf of the dissenters, which thou should'st answer when you repeat the objec
tion.
C. Let's hear them.
O. He was one call'd a dissenter-
C. Was he not a dissenter ?
O. Yes, but he was called so !
C. Well, go on to the next.
O. He has brought a publick nssront and reproach vpor.
the dissenters in. general, who abhor and condemn all
such barbarous proceedings.
C. Why then do not they excommunicate him ? for the
taw takes hold of no excommunications, but those of the church of England. All the rest are sree, and not cogni zable by any secular courts. What fign or mark of dis
pleasure have they put upon him for this barbarous proceed ing? Or have they oblig'd him to a recantation, and as
publick a corfission of his fault, as the scandal was note- r. cus ?
O. It is not the way of the dissenters to punish any fifll which they don't dij-likc, or which does them no harm ;
and
lomew-close,
The REHEARSAL.
and this shews their moderation ! as their seeming to dis own it to others shews their prudence !
But I go on : He fays in the next place, that he (that
disinter who set up the calfs-head) hath been heard to
justify the proceedings of forty-one to such a degree, that good manners hath forsook him, and deliver 'd him over t»
the language of the beast.
C. This is an exact description of my master Nobbs ;
his de-collation and de-truncation of K. Charles I. And
sending his son, like Cain, a vagabond and fugitive on the eaith ; and triumphing over them in faying, They viotid have done sooner, they cou'd. And justifying all those who had any hand in either of their tragedies as tliou dost in thy Observator, Vol. II. N. 89.
And upon the head of maintaining the principles of forty-one, what one single person of all the iohigs and disinters can be exceyted What one of them does not iustify the forty-one principle ofpower in the people, evert-
to coerce their kings was this this which cut off
the principle which possess'd them, that was the original and formal executioner. And whoever hold the fame principle must be ready for the fame •work again,
they will be true to themselves. They cannot fay, that K. Charles did suffer unjustly, because he deny'd' the jurisdiction of the court, and resus'd to plead. He wou'd not own the sovereign authority of the people which was the highest treason, the principles of forty- vie be true and he deserv'd to die, like criminal that stands mute, whether he was guilty of the particular facts eharg'd upon him, or not. And whoever hold these
principles are calves-head men, whether they go to their stasis, or not. And with whatever good manners they ex- pieis themselves, and not in the language of the beast
as thou, my dirty master uses to do, to the scandal «ven of thy own scandalous party
0. But he has another . excuse: That the calfs-head was
ifri
the king's head.
struck with ptnverd him
was not the ax, but the hand that was not the hand, but those who im- was not those who impower'd him, but
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was his mum , and might he not do what he pleases with, his own ?
C. It his own calfs-head had been set up on the top of his house, instead of the more innocent beast, whose head he plac'd there, it wou'd have been of better in-
firutiion
to his neighbourhood, than the emblem he set
UPO. Thou'rt for persecution.
C. Is stealing a horse, or robhing on the high- •way i
To ,
crime equal to this ? trample upon Majesty tiAHs-
sol•ve the whole foundation of government throughout the worId ! To affront our /aoe-s while they stand iB
sarce ; and to propagate such principles as make
for us to have any peace or settlement to the «iiof
the wet Id! And while all the rest of the nation are hum bling themselves before God, in fasting and prayer, to deprecate the . /fo of these miscreants, as the proclamation read in our churches (of which told thee in my last)
justly calls them {hat they themselves shou'd be ridi culing our clxerity for them, and re-a8ing the fame most horrid wickedness, for which we mourn, in circumftanca which exceed, after long time past, even the dismal tragedy of the day and provoking God to send still moie •vengeance upon the nation, for that £/W which thus daily shed over again, and will not sufser his indignation to sleep? This piacular fin, for which the nation. and our posterity are answerable, till they punifi as deserves. And next to the shedding of that roya/ and innocent blood, the pardoning of the greatest ww,
A»d this be persecution, to us and to our chil dren, from whom, his blood cannot othewise be «- nurvd.
We feel to this day all that has befalfn us fince, and what we have still in pvosfect-, being the csnuin essects, and natural product' of that bittbr not
ponuer in the staple* We may fay of this, as the
did
or suffering these cursd as well as senseless
to live (as far as in our power) which, as faid befoie* were the executioner.
principle*
if it
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REHEARS AU 183
did of the golden-cals, that there was a grain of it in all
their asm judgments.
What a mocJting of God is to pray that the guilt of
that blood may be taken off from us, while we hug the principle that and take those into our bosom, who promote that fame principle, and glory in
There something in this, exceeds even the horror
ihecalves-bead-feafis
He that owns that principle iV/a/f and he that
dares not disown Judas. And he who thinks /•u-isf of it, and can believe proof against contradiction and denies the authority of £a/y> scripture!
From&at. Feb. 17, to &at. Feb. 24, 170s. N° 30.
i. Canonizations wof »sV in the church England. 2. But among the dissenters. Particularly the
The
Lord Brook.
their pastors. and what
4. Of the right the people to elect And their kings. Wherein 0/liberty,
meant
in the present election
(i. ) dun. %HIS
sons Belial. Exemplify St. Michael's Cornhil.
St. Matthias's day, wherein we That the church may be prefers
srom false ape les, and guided faithful and true pas tors.
0. Ay That's against us. We know your mean ing.
Guilty conscience
0. Pr'ythee, let's alone with your saints. We call
none suints but ourselves we caren't for sip- load of your old out of fashion saints. They were nothing like ours! Let you, and the church of Rome canonize whom you will.
The church of England canonizes none, nor keeps the memorials of any, but who are recorded for
faints in holy scripture whom you desire to ft. 'get, be cause
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cause their doctrine and practice was so contrary to YOUrS.
(2. ) But, tell me, is not putting a man in heaven, a
canonizing of him ?
O. It is something like it. If we cannot take him
out again !
C. You can do both! and you have don it ! For your
Baxter (who bragg'd, that he had spent gallons of his blood sighting against the king) in his Saints everlasting rest, Edit. 1649, p. 82, 83. has transated those of the regicides, and other rebels, who were then dead, straight into heaven ; and names several of them, as Brook, and Pirn, and Hams den, and White, who was one of the re gicides, &c. and Tvuifs, wh© was moderator of their as sembly os divines, and so forth. And describes heaven
in the firm of a parliament and calls it parliamentum be- atum. And we must suppose, that he meant it in that form of a parliament they had then, that is, without a
king ; wliich minds me of the note in one of their ser mons, wherein they found faJult with our translation of the Bible (as made by bishops for that it was full of the kingdom of God, and the kingdem of God over and over again, every where ; but there was not a word of the
parliament of God ; which they hop'd to sind in the ori ginal.
But to go on with our story. Baxter having cetnmhci these, did again rivet and consirm his grant to them in the next edition of that book in 1652, Parti, p. 99, and
101 .
And yet, after all this, he took them out of heaven
again, or dropt them, for they were lest out in the new editions of this boat after the restoration 1660. He was THEN rshamd of his faints, or afraid to own them, and left them to iff for themselves lest he might have been sent to bear them company which, for all his as
surance, he had no mind to.
(3. ) But must speak word to one of the saints
here nam'd, that is, the Lord Brook, as to the manner of his tranflation, which you will sind in the Lord Clartn- don\
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The REHEARS AL.
185
dons History of the Rebellion, Vol. II. Book 6. p. 114.
He was for the parliament against the king ; and we mult suppose, trusted for his reward to Baxter s par liament of heaven not from the king of it, against whom hefought. He besieg'd some cavaliers, who held out the church of Lichfield, and the close about for the king. And on the second of March (which St. Chad's
day, the bishop who built that church, and after whose name was call'd) my Lord Brook sitting in his chamber the town, out of all danger, as cou'd be suppos'd,
and exercising his talent of praying publickly, tho' his chrplains were present for the close or pale of the church was then broken down, and all men and women acted
the /;-/,y? , and took heaven, literally, violence) he pray'd, That the cause he was in, were not right and
iust, he might presently cut off. And as presently he was shot into the eye with diet from the close, shot cemmon sldier, and instantly dy'd. Tho' he was at that distance, and thought himself in little danger from the close, that he fat with his windows open. Whence Mr. Baxter sent him to that heaven, govern'd
parliament
O. Your St. Schad nick'd our St. Brook at Lichfield,
and desended his church. If the like had happen'd on
odr side, we shou'd have wrote volumes of it. Tho'
we hate superstition
(4. ) But for your St. Matthias, whom you celebrate
this day, he's of our side. His election the chief ar gument we have for the right ofthe people to choose their own pastors. For, as Acts'\. 15. there were 120
lay-men who elected him.
C. How do you know they were lay-men The apo
stles were of the number, and were not yet separated. For was before the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pente • r^. And you know there were 70 ordain'd in lower (•/«/} of clergy from the apostles, by our Saviour himself.
And we cannot tell but more might have been ordain'd afterwards by himself, or the apostles, after his resurrec
tion. So that the whole 20 might have been clergy, for oi'iiht we know. i>ut
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But suppose they had been all lay-men, except the
How does it appear, that any but the apofikr did choose f It is faid, w. 23. And they appointed tux.
apostles.
i It might have been the apostles, or all the rest. Here is nothing of certainty in all
Who were these they
this.
And at last the thing was determin'd by lat, which
was then a miraculous decision.
And, after all, this choofing, if it was in the body of
the diftiphs at large, might be no more than recommend ing to the apostles ; like that of the deacons, Acts vi. 3. Look ye cut that is, sind out sit persons to recommend tp us } whom we will approve, or not, as we think lit. Any body may recommend, there's no authority in
that. But to constitute or ordain, that is the authority. O. Ifthere is no certainty, then •we are upon as good a lay as you. Then we know not, whether the eleSia
was in tie people, or the 1 pestles. «
C. No. Therefore •u* are sure of our side, that it was
in the apostles.
O. How prove you that ?
C. Will you grant me, that all commissions are
O. What mean you by that ?
C. That is, that all are excluded, who are not n«»V
in the commission. For example, if I have a cemmissim for a of /6er£, can any other pretend tp be captain
but myself?
Q. No certainly. For else there cou'd be no ctmmf-
Jion whatever certain.
C- I suppose you will not dispute with s>e the cam-
mission which Chiist gave to his apostles, As my father Jent me, Istndycu, £sV. that is, with the fame commission. To
,
govern his church. Therefore all others are excluded, but who derive their authority from the apostles.
This is an essirntial part pf the tssice of a governor, tp snake choice pf those whom he entrusts under hin>. How
else can he be anstweratle for their mistcari iages 't
Thus St. Paul instructs Jimethj, whom he conliituttd
hi/t>f
The REHEARSAL.
bishop pf Epbesus, That he should commit what he had
men, who shall able to teach others And fays, that otherwise he par
Tjra. v. 22.
Therefore if the people, or any others, pretend to the
authority of electing the governors and pastors of the church, they must shew such authority committed unto them God. And these texts or passages in scripture upon which they found are uncertain or duhious, their claim abates. And therefore sufsicient, in this case, to shew, that these texts do not certainly conclude for such authority in the people. But the commission granted to the apostles, and their successors, to the end pf the •world (for so long Christ promised to be with them, and assist them in the execution of that commission he then gave them) being certain and undoubted, must be understood exclufive of all others, till they can produce
certain commission granted unto them.
0. But have heard, that the election pf bisho$s and
paflors has been in the people and that in old times.
Yes. That error did creep in degrees, as o- thers have done. But from the beginning was not
And came to that excess. , that the contending par- tits have murdered one another in the church upon the diction of a hi/hop, till the blood has run in streams out into the streets; which gave occasion to an historian to sey? that the pastor was then cons crated the blood of
his stock .
And the consequence of this was natural. For what
other issiue can there be between several contending par
ties, where there no umpire or judge over them
all mob and confufion
Then christian kings, to remedy this horridscqndal to
the church, and the destruction of their subjects, took the election of hisbops into their own hands, Where was
certainly much/%fo- and £f//fr than with the Tho? still an aberration from the institution pf C£W/? and has
receiv'd also, taker
to faithful Tim. ii. 2.
their fins,
187
Juperfdeas of that commission and another as clear and
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its own very evil consequences. Kincs turning and 'wind ing religion at their pleasure, and making the church a tool to the intrigues of state.
O. How came the people at sirst by the power ef c hct ion?
C. The apostles and lisbops of the church, considering of how great advantage it was to the labours of the clergy, that their persons shou'd be held in estimation, and well accepted by their socks ; did allow not only of any objections to be made relating to the life or docti ine of the
person elected i but often accepted os recommendations from the people, and encourag'd them to recommend-
And made use of this, on several occasions, to expostu late with the people, when they prov'd refractory against their pastor, that he was put over them by their own
cons nt, and sufsrage, and defire.
Hence, in time, these cor. csstcns came to be chum da
tight, (and the like has been done in other cafes) till the practice grew so scandalous, that, as I faid before, it be
came even necessary to have it taken out of the hands of
the people.
(;. ) It is our principle, that the people ought to have
the election both of their kings and priests.
C. And you prove both alike ! That is, from limi
tations ofconcession you argue to coercion, and original rights. And so make it dangerous to your governors, whether in church or state, whether priests or princes, to
grant conerssions to you.
nors i and their governors more indulgent and careful of them. And these arethe only free subjects.
Whereas the others are (like Lucifer) flaves in their
rebellion ; and force the government to keep a watchful eye over them, and to beware how it grants concessions to them, who misunderstand and rfl/</r them ; and think them so many -weapons put into their hands to fight with
against
are well bestow'd upon an obedient and
ConceJJions
willing people. They are govern'd more eastly, and to their own content. It makes them more loving, and that makes them more dutiful and respectful to their gover
The REHEARS AL.
189
against their governors who granted them; and that they nut less to their governors than before, and are, in ib far, exempted and freed from their subjection ! And this ii their notion of liberty ! which is literally being sons of Belial, the common appellation of rebels through the ho
For the word Belial (as I have been told)
ly scripture.
signisies without yoke, or restraint, that
free from the yoke of government, faying, We will net have this man to reign over us and we will not have this man,
but this, to be our pastor.
And that true liberty And we practise, and
we do.
And shou'd not other men have that liberty, as
well as you
No. When we speak of liberty, we mean only ourselves but to keep all others under the yoke. And this we have shew'd in present instance, of our imposing pastor, which occasions great talk all over
ihe/5-u-,7. And people wonder, at not knowing the cittern of our principles!
And tho' the parish are so much disfatisfy 'd, that they
intend to dispute with us at law and many of them
declare, that they will go no more to that church,
our man be put upon them For that reason we hold
th;m to O this nuts to us and the rather, be
cause we understand the hishop wou'd have the parish
gratify with the person they have recommended. What
have they to do to recommend upon our undoubted sight
Yet, when the bishop or the king, or any other lay-
tiatrms, like yourselves, put in cl:rk; then you roar
Out upon this, as an infraction of the rights of the peo to choose their own pastor, &c And have made this Me cause of your, schism, and your so frequent re-
Millions.
That prosess'd dissenters, and enemies to our church, hou'd have the choice of ow*. pastors That the wolves hoa'd name the shepherds How long can our church land at this rate How can the bishop be answerable
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REHEARSAL.
for such? Must he be partaker of their fins ! thescriptures abolish'd ?
If the foundation he cast dcwn, What can the righteous do ?
An answer to the Flying-post concerning one particul: the monstrous Presbyterian procession at " burgh, the \ph of March last; which is ac" ledg'd and vindicated by him.
Coun. A MONG the, C3V. 1 ani to rehearse, after i
'
Lord,
bow long 'voik thou look on this! From &at. Feb. 24, to &at. March 3, 170s. ti*
Observator (who has fled the pit, except natural Billingsgate) I am now challeng'd by aw author, call'd The Flying-posf, who is mightly cone
for the honour of his country ; which he thinks is flected upon in my Rehearsal, N. 28 ; which tells of horrid cavaleade at Edinburgh. .
O. And is not that a refiection upon Scotland, if it true?
C. No. No more than all the horrid actions of tfac
dissenters in England are chargeable upon the church dt the nation. Their calces-head feasts, and what they represent, the murder os their king, Sec.
They are indeed a curse and a blemish to both nations; which can never be happy, while that bitter root is fuf- ser'd to grow in them.
O. But what fay 'ft thou to the assertion of the Flying- post, that there was no bible burnt in that procession.
C. He fays no such thing. He sets down an inventor (as he calls of the things then burnt, wherein the bible not nam'd. But there are general words of trin
kets and others, which may include many things. And
he names an acl of parliament for the destroying popish books. What needed this, if there were no books burnt
And
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The REHEARS AL.
191
And if any books were burnt, none of which are men- tion'd in the inventor, then how does it appear there was not a hible among them ; sew Romish priests are without one. Why did he not produce a certificate, that there were no books burnt ? or if any were burnt, that the vulgar latin hible was not among them . ' that we might be sure it was not included among the other things mention'd in the order of council.
But I told in that fame Rehearsal, that this story was in print before. I took it out of a printect-book. And tae moderate clergy-man there mention'd read it in that bonk ; and justify'd as was there, the burning of the hible and all So that the cause of moderation, of which treated, and for which brought this instance, stands good still, to fliew how far will go, and stop at
mthing
But now suppose, that whoever wrote that story had
been mifinformd. concerning that particular of the hible,
which, does not yet appear confirmation of all the rest that told in that Rehearsal of your dear bre thren in Scotland. Against which, no doubt, the Flying-
sost wou'd have objected, he had found any Ground for it* Then the famous yule-sermon hereby confirm'd! And let me add, the treasonable conspiracy of the presby- terians there, shew'd in their overtures, printed in the Rehear/al but one next before that of which we are now
speaking, that is, N. 26. To arm themselves clandc-
stinely, to raise standing force and to seize and disarm all whom they judge not well-affecied to their cause, of those whom the late ac! allows to be armd, for the
curity of the country. If the queen and parliament arm [hem, they will disarm them
But to leave these small things The Flying-post has
absolutely ascertain'd us of what had the greatest dif siculty to believe, of any thing in that monstrous pres-
byttrian procession
order of the privy-council there.
at Edinburgh, that was perform'd
O. But what fay'st thou to this charge in the Flying-
pofl, We may see how good a protestant the etathor the R*
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The REHEARSAL.
Rehearsal is, who calls the host carry d about tbe strati, our Saviour s body,
C. Does not our Saviour fay of the bread in the holy sacrament, this is MY BODY ? Now see what a chrifliem
the Flying-post is, who knows nothing of this! For if he did, how cou'd he object this ? But (as the present
igz
of Dublin has fully prov'd in his excellent discourse concerning The inventions of men in the vcorshit of God, and two following admonitions printed here while he was bishop of Derry in Ireland) this sacrament is so
little us'd among the presbyterians, that a man may live a long life among them, and never receive it once.
And we may suppose, that these most solemn words, words, this is my body, &e. are not always us'd in their celebrations; else so considerable a member, as the author ofthe Flying-Post cou'd not but have heard of it some how or other !
As for the carrying it about the streets, he knows the church of England does neither allow nor practise it. But must be therefore carry about the streets, the hands of the common hangman, and him thrown into
the fire
And must his worship be eloath'd in the robes of
priest, to solemnize his celebration and this, by order of privy-council
His performance and Wylie's were of />z>«. and their authority much the fame they are best company for one another 'tis pity they shou'd be parted.
O. But what fay you to the chalice, and other conse crated utevfils These we call trinkets.
C. That's not strange in you, who gutted our churches, and turn'd them into shops and stables. Your religion lies) in defiling every thing that holy.
The heathen have greater regard to things sacred than the presbyterians. When Titus fack'd Jerujalnr. , he endeavour'd to preserve the Temple. And the holy ves/els whi;h were there, were not put to any common or prophane use. The Romans built the Temple of PtUt
at Rome, to deposite those vessels in, not thinking
ting
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The REHEARS AL.
193 ting that what had been dedicated to the service of the great God should rest in any commin place. And there was greater difference betwixt their religion and that of
HM. Jeiiu, than betwixt the church of Rome and us. And
when the Goths and Vandals fack'd Rome, they carry'd
these fame holy vessels to Carthage. Whence Justinian the emperor sent them to Jerusalem, and distributed them among the Christian churches there. These were the fame numerical vessels which Solomon made ; which Nebuchad nezzar carry'd to Babylon, and put in the temple of his
gods, and were restord to Jerusalem by Cyrus. They were preserv'd by a signal providence under all these Heathens ; who, tho' often in great straits, yet never laid hand upon so vast a mass of consecrated wealth. And as the law ended in the gospel, lo these utenfils of the
law were reserv'd for the Christian altars.
But if they had fall'n into the hands ofpresbyterians,
they wou'd have call'd them trinkets, and devoted them into the hands of the hang-man ! or melted them down for the use of the covenant I
I may fay of them, as St. Paul did of the Jews, I Thess ii. 15.